Breech closure



n. F. ASBURY.v

BRE'ECH CLQSURE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. I6, 1918.

LM 9525, Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

`4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

v rg, IIIIII Sme/who:

D'. F; ASBURY.

BREECH CLOSURE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 1s, |9118.

1,4%@9525 I Patented Mar. 21,1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.'

D. rlf. ASBURY. Basson cnosune.

kPPLlCATlON FILED `NOV. I6, `1918.

Patented Mar. 2li, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

. w /////////////////////////////Vf// 5 2% 5/ f F5 ww rarest caries.

rDORSEY FROST ASBURY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICTOF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED STATES ORDNANCE COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUM- BIA, A CORPORATION 0F VIRGINIA.

BREECE CLOSURE.

Application led November 16, 1918. Serial No. 262.815.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, DonsEY F. AsxURY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in. Breech Closures; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suchV as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to breech closures and particularly to the type described and broadly claimed in my copending application filed October 30, 1918, and seriallynumbered 260,339.

My present invention, broadly speaking,

attains the objects set forth in respect to my.

ducing said movements of the plug, the cam follower traveling in said groove during all movements of the plug; to provide a breech plug adapted to be unlocked by either' of two movements; to provide a breech plug adapted to be unlocked by either' of two movements, and means for preventing one of the unlocking movements at a predetermined time; to provide automatically operated means for effecting one unlocking movement of the plug and manually operated means for effecting the other unlocking movement; to provide a breech structure wherein the breech plug is movable in the same direction at the beginning and end of its opening and closing cycle to effect unlocking and locking thereof respectively; to4

provide a breech closure wherein a single means utilizes unlocking movement of an element of the closure to open, close and lock the closure; to' provide a breech structure wherein the breech plug is adapted to be vunlocked by movement in one direction and locked by -movement in the same direction; to provide a breech plug adapted to be Speeication of Letters Patent. -]Pa,te1jg@d1 Maro 2j? 1922.

locked by movement in one direction and unlocked by movement in the same direction and also by movement in the reverse direction; to provide means utilizing the unlocking movement of the plu to produce all other movements thereof with respect to the gun; to provide a member fixed to the plug acting against a member on the mount to stop the plug in locked position whether the gun is home or not; and to provide an improved structure for facilitating the application and removal of the breech plug to and from the gun.

I will describe my invention as applied to a gun supported by a mount in which it is adapted to recoil, the gun embodying a'rotatable and, longitudinally movable breech plug; but it will be understood that my invention in its fullest aspect and elementary parts thereof is applicable to other forms of guns and breech closures, and that the invention can be altered and varied in a pronourrced manner Without departing from the scope of the claims, the drawings and description forming a part hereof being merely illustrative of one method of carrying my invention into practice.

In describing my invention reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which- Fig. 1, is a vertical section through the breech end of a gun embodying my inven' Fig. 4,- a section on the line 4 4 of Fig. l

looking down;

Fig. 5, a similar section looking up; Fig. 6, a section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1; Fig. 7, a section on the line 7 7 of Fig, 1; Fig. 8, a section on the line 8 8 of Fig. 1; Fig. 9, a sectionvon the line 9 9 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 10, a section on the line 10 10 of Fig. 1

Fig. 11, a section on the line 11-11 of Fig, 1; Fig. 12, a detail perspective view of the lbreech end of the gun;

Fig. 13, a perspective view of the breech plug with theI operating handle removed;

Fig.. 14, a perspective veiw of the breech plug in another position, the ejector being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 15, a front end view o'f the breech plug; and

Fig. 16, a perspective view of the ejector.

Referring to the drawings 10 indicates a recoil mount and 11 the gun arranged to slide in said mount during recoil and counter recoil, said gun being connected with a suitable recoil brake (not shown) by rod 12. In order to facilitate the disconnection of the gun from the rod 12 said rodis secured to a connecting block 13 which seats in a recess 14 formed in the gun and is detachably held to the latter by a screw 15. By removing this screw it will be obvious that the connecting block 13 can be readily disengaged from the recess 14 and the, gun'll thereby disconnected from the rod 12. A breech chamber A is provided at the rear end of the gun andcomprises a'forward portion 16and an'enlarged rear portion 17. Mounted for rotation and reciprocation in the breech chamber A is a breech plug B the vrear end of which is enlarged by portions 18 and 19 so as to properly support the rear end of the breech plug in the portion 17 of the breech chamber during the operation of the plug. The enlarged portions 18 and 19 of the breech plug are separated to form a longitudinal groove 2O for a purpose that will presently appear, while one edge of the portion 19 is shaped to form a cam 21 adapted to coact with a cam follower on the mount to be presently referred to. The breech plug B is also provided with oppositely disposed lockin lugs 22 which coact with lookin lugs 23 ormed on the gun. To unlock t e breech plug it is only necessary to rotate the same so as to bring thelugs 22 out of alinement with the lugs 23 and this unlocked status can be produced by rotation ofthe plug in either direction unless otherwise prevented. Also mounted on the plug is an extractor 24 of the usual and well known construction. The forward end of the plug B is provided with a circumferential cut-away portion.' 25 and inwardly of this cut-away portion 25 the plug is provided with a circumferential groovel 26 both ends of which have a forwardly extending enlarged 4portions 27 v. An ejector member C is carried by the plug B and is provided at its ends with lateral extensions 28 and 29 which are disposed respectively in the groove 26 and cut-away portion 25, the body of the ejector during longitudinal movements of the. plug B sliding in a groove 30 formed .in the 'gun 11. In order to impart ejecting movement to the element C durin rearward movement of the breech plug mount in the gun an actuating screw 31 disel posed in line with the rear end of the groove 30. When the lplug B is unlocked through the medium of the coaction of thecam 21 and the cam follower ,to be presently referred to, the extension 28 of the ejector member is brought into line with one enlargement 27 of the groove 26. andupon rearward movement of the breech plug-the rear end of the with a longitudinal slot 33 opening through its rear and projecting into this slot is a plate 34 detachably secured4 to the mount 10 by screws 35. a plurality of vertical, passages 36, 37 and 38 in which is detachably and selectively se cured a pintle 39 carrying on its upper end a roller 4() constituting a cam follower adapted for coacting with caml 21 on the breech plug during recoil of the gun to automatically eiiect unlocking movement of the plug. While in this instance Ihave shown the plate 34 provided with three vertical passages for the selective reception of the pintle 39 it will be obvious that the number of such passages can be increased if desired. By moving the pintle 3 9 from one vertical passage to theother it will be apparent that the position of the plug B in respect to the The plate 34 is provided with.

mount when the automatic unlocking movement is imparted therto can be varied. By mounting the cam follower 40 on a plate detachably secured to the mount I render the removal of the gun from the mount a very l simple operation in `that it only requires the removal of the connecting block 13 in the manner heretofore described and the removal of the plate 34 from the mount.

To accomplish the automatic operation of the plug B to open and closed ypositions I provide in the wall of the portion 17 of the breech chamber A an endless cam groove D forming a plurality of effective cam surfaces 41, 42, 43 and 44, said groove including submovement'of the breech plug to open, close and lock the plug. In orther words I provide a single means forr utilizing energy maracas stored in the plug to produce all movements of the plugs opening and closing cycle except the unlocking movement of the plug In operation, as soon as the gun is fired'it recoils in the mount 10 and during this recoil the cam follower 40 coacts with the cam 2l and imparts unlocking movement to the plug B. After this unlocking movement of the plug the cam follower 47 coacts with the cam surface 4l to change the rotative movement of the plug to longitudinal movement and the follower moves in the side portion 45 of the groove l). When the plug almost reaches full open position the follower 47 coacts with the cam surface 42 to change the longitudinal movement of the plug to rotative movement, such change being completed when the plug is in full open position. This rotative movement of the plug is then changed to forward longitudinal movement by coaction of the follower 47 with the cam surface 43, the follower then moving in the side portion 46 of the groove D until the breech plug is almost home. Finally, the follower 47 coacts with the cam surface 44 to change the forward longitudinal movement of the plug to rotative locking movement and thereby complete the opening and closing cycle of the plug. It will be observed that the locking movement of the plug B at the end of the opening and closing cycle is in the same direction as the unlocking movement at the beginning of said cycle. It will be further observed in the operation just described that the position of the groove 2O and the functioning of the parts is such that when the breech plug partakes of its longitudinal movement the groove is disposed in line with the follower 40 so that such forward longitudinal movement of the plug'will not be interfered with.

Secured to the rear end of the plug B and extending through the rear end of the breech vchamber is a handle 48 whereby the plug B may be manually unlocked, such manual unlocking being accomplished by rotation of the plug in a direction opposite t0y that in which the plug is rotated when automatically unlocked. VVhen the plug is manually unlocked the groove 20 is also brought into alinement with the follower 40 so that the rearward longtiudinal movement of the plug will not be interfered with. The cmplete operation of the plug can of course be effected manually by producing the necessary movements required by the travel 0f the follower 47 in the groove D. If it is desired to remove the plug B from the gun it is only necessary to first remove the screw 31- -and then manually unlock the' plug and move the same to the rear. By then reversing the rotation of the plug from its previous unlocking rotation the follower 47 can be brought intolne with a run-out 49 and the plug readily removed.

cam surfaces 42 and 43 serves todelay the closing movement of the plug and" such delay can be varied by varying the length of such circumscribing portion. 2.]

ln order to stop the automatic locking movement of the plug B I provide the handle 48 with Va pallet 50 which engages the follower 40, said pallet also serving to prevent one unlocking movement of the plug when the gun is at battery.

Cartridges are fed to the gun by gravity or a spring from a magazine 51V'A carried by the mountin substantially the same manner as that described in my aforesaid copending application.

It will be noted that when I refer in the claims to a breech closure including a unitarymass or a breech closure formed of a single unitary mass such expression shall. be construed to cover and define mass constituted by a single piece or massiconstituted by more than one piece each fixed in respect to the other.

claim:

l. .In a gun, a movable breech closure including a unitary mass energized by the initiation of the cycle of operation of the breech closure, and means thereafter operated solely by the energy stored" in and delivered from said unitary mass to produce all the remaining movements of the closure in its cycle `of operation.

2. In a gun, a movable breech closure including a unitary mass initially energized by unlocking movement of the closure, and means thereafter operated solely by energy stored in and delivered lfrom said unitary mass to produce all the movements of the closure following said unlocking movement.

3. In a gun, amovable breech closure including a unitary mass energized by the initiation of the cycle of operation of the breech closure, and cam means thereafter operated solely by energy stored in and delivered from said unitary mass to produce all the remaining movements of the closure in its cycle of operation.

4. In a gun, a movable breech closure including a unitary mass energized by the initiation of the cycle of operation ofthe breech closure, and means thereafter operated solely by the energy stored iin and delivered from said unitarymass to produce all the remaining movements of the closure in its cycle of operation, said means comprising a cooperating cam and cam follower, one of which is on the gun and the other on the unitary mass.

5. In a gun, a movable breech closure formed of a single unitary mass energized by the initiation of 'the cycle of operation of the closure, and means thereafter operated solely by the energy stored in and delivered from said single unitary mass to' produce all the remaining movements of the closure in its cycle of operation.

'6. In a gun, a movable breech closure formed-of a single unitary mass energized by the initiation of the cycle of operation of the closure, and cam means thereafter operated solely by the energy stored in and delivered from said'single unitary mass to produce all the remaining movements of the closure in its cycle of operation.

7. In a gun, a longitudinally movable and rotatable breech closure formed ofa single unitaryv mass energized by the initiation of the cycle of operation of the closure, and means thereafter operated vsolely by the energy stored in and delivered from said single unitary mass to produce all the remaining movements of the closure in its cycle ofoperation.

8. 111 a gun, a longitudinally movable and- Arotatable breech closure formed of a single unitary mass energized by the initiation of the cycle of operation of the closure, and cam means thereafter operated solely by the energy stored in and delivered from said single unitary mass to. produce all the remaining movements of the closure in its cycle of operation.

9..In a'recoil gun, a rotatable plugmovable longitudinally with respect to the gun, and a cam and cam follower'one of which is on a recoiling part of the gun and the other on the plug, said cam and cam follower coacting after the institution of the unlocking movement of the plug to produce all the re-l maining movements thereof,

10. In a recoil gun, a rotatable plug movable longitudinally with respect to the gun, a cam on a recoiling part of the gun, and a cam follower on the plug coacting with the cam on the gun after the institution of the unlocking movement of the plug to produce allthe remaining movements thereof.

11. In a recoil gun, a movable plug, means fixed relatively to the plug, land m'eans fixed relatively to a recoiling part of the gun coacting with the first named means to produce all movements of the J plug following the vplugs unlocking movement.

12. In a gun, a longitudinall movable and rotatable breech plug, means or locking the plug against longitudinal movement relative to the gun releasable by rotation of the plug in either of two"` directions, and means for preventing one of the releasing movements of the plug at a predetermined time;

13. In a gun, a longitudinally movable and rotatable breech plug, means for locking the plug against longitudinal movement relative tothe gun releasable by rotation of the plug 'in either of two directions, auto matically operated means for efecting one releasing movement, and manually operated utilizing the energy derived from the un-y locking movement of the bolt to open, close and lock said bolt, said cam device comprising a groove forming a plurality of cam surfaces and a cam follower traveling in said groove and coacting successively with said surfaces to operate the bolt, one of the elements of the cam device being located on a recoiling part of the gun and the other on the bolt.

16.' The combination of a mount, a gun adapted to recoil onsaid mount, a breech plug, a cam on the plug, a cam follower on the mount coacting with the cam to impart unlock-movement to the plug during recoil and adjustable relatively to the mount to vary the position'of the plug in respect to the mount when the unlocking movement is imparted thereto.

17. The combination of a mount, a gun adapted to recoil on said mount, a rotatable and longitudinally movable breech plug, a cam on the plug, a plate removably secured to the mount and a cam follower on the plate coacting with the cam durin recoil to impart unlocking rotation to the p ug.

18. The combination of a mount, a gun adapted to recoil on said mount, a rotatable and longitudinally movable brech plug having opposite unlocked positions, a caml on the plug, a cam follower lon the mount coacting with the cam during recoil to automatically move the pluggto oneunlocked position, manually operatedmeans for moving the plug to the other unlocked position, said plug having a longitudinal groove alining with the follower in the manual unlocked position to permit manual removal of the plug from the gun.

19. The combination of a mount, a gun adapted torecoil on said mount, a rotatable and longitudinally movable breech plug, a cam on the plug, a cam follower on the mount coacting with the cam during recoil to automatically move the plug to unlocked position, means for utilizing the unlocking movement of the plug to effect the latters y 'means for moving the plug to its other unlocked position, said plug having a longitudinal groove alining with the follower during automatic closing to permit free closing movement of said plug, and when manually unlocked to permlt manual removallof the plug.

AIn testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

y DORSEY FRST ASBURY. Witnesses:

HENRY T. BRIGHT, IVAN S. CARPENTER. 

